Tennessee Department of Transportation is getting a jump start on its annual traffic count, completing the majority of the Signal Mountain portion of its statewide assessments over the past two weeks.
“Most counts are on state roads,” said TDOT community relations officer Jennifer Flynn, although such is not the case with the counters along Taft and on Roberts Mill, Sawyer, Corral, Anderson, Wilson, the brow, Palisades, Mississippi, James, Timberlinks, Shackleford Ridge, Edwards Point, Timesville and Kell. “A lot of them are main connectors, important routes in the community. They’re adjacent to state roads, near state roads and connect into state roads.”
The black tubing lain across designated areas, which are the same each year, conduct counts in both directions for a 24-hour period. From this, average daily traffic can be determined. Flynn noted that factors, such as the seasonal nature of traffic in certain areas, are taken into account when determining these figures.
“A lot of people are interested in traffic counts but they’re mostly for planning for the future and economic development,” Flynn said. “A traffic count map in the right hands can be a very useful tool. It can kind of help people predict which areas of the county are growing and which are not.”
Counter locations are determined on a “logical” basis. For example, a counter might be located before and after an exit or before and after a thoroughfare split, like that of interstates 75 and 24 as they head into Chattanooga.